They are packed with vitamins and nutrients like vitamin C, fiber, and potassium. And eating beets can increase your energy level, boost your brain power, and improve your immune system. Beets can cause beeturia, which is when urine turns red or pink. According to one study, this condition affects about 14 percent of the population. The primary symptom of beeturia is discolored urine or stools.
Urine appears red or pink after eating beetroot or foods and juices containing extracts or pigments of beetroot. The extent of discoloration varies from person to person and depends on what you ingested. For example, raw beet juice can cause dark red or dark pink urine. But if you eat cooked beets, your urine may be a lighter color of pink or red.
Noticing red or pink urine for the first time can be scary, and you may think the worst. But beeturia is a harmless condition. Discoloration is due to a compound in beets called betanin, which is what gives the vegetable its red pigment.
Some people have difficulty breaking down this pigment. After you consume beets, betanin travels through the body and eventually makes its way to the kidneys. Here, it is flushed from the body, resulting in pink or red urine. Therefore, consult a doctor if you have discolored urine every time you eat beets. Having red or pink urine after ingesting beetroot is sometimes a symptom of an iron deficiency.
A study found that this condition occurs in about 66 to 80 percent of people with untreated iron deficiency anemia.
Beeturia can also occur in people with low stomach acid. A healthy level of stomach acid helps your body absorb minerals, nutrients, and vitamins. Because low stomach acid can make it difficult to digest and absorb nutrients, your body may have trouble metabolizing the red pigment in beetroot.
So, you may notice red or pink urine after you eat beets or drink beet juice. Signs of low stomach acid include bloating, gas, and constipation. Here are some methods for increasing stomach acid at home. If you are a beetroot lover like me, you may have run into this problem. A visit to the restroom some time after eating a tasty beet leaves a scarlet trace.
The technical term for the presence of the red beetroot pigments in urine or stool is beeturia. Around 10 to 14 percent of the general population experiences this colorful surprise after eating beets. Beeturia is thought to be mostly harmless, but it can be a sign of iron deficiency in some individuals. So, what causes the red poop and pee? And should you worry when you experience it for the first time? The red pigments in beets are called betalains. These strong antioxidants are present in each cell in the beetroot.
Scientists from the Universities of Bologna and Urbino in Italy recently showed that betalains can kill colon cancer cells in laboratory studies. Precisely what happens to betalain in the human body is not clear. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom found a link between oxalic acid, which is a key component of most kidney stones , and beeturia.
They think that the red pigments are normally broken down in the stomach and colon. When oxalic acid levels are high, the red color is preserved and this can lead to red poop in people who do not normally experience beeturia.
Beet greens are also edible and a good source of the antioxidant vitamins C and beta carotene, as well as vitamin K, which is essential for healthy blood clotting. The biggest nutritional bonus of beetroot comes from their betalains. Beetroot contains a vast array of antioxidant compounds within the betalain family, and each accounts for some of the health benefits of beets.
Two of the most powerful betalain compounds are betanin and betanidin. Beetroot is considered by many to be a functional food , meaning it has the ability to promote better health and prevent disease. Beets can reduce the risk of inflammation-related diseases such as heart disease and cancer. A review of the potential benefits of beetroot and beet juice supplements, published in the journal Nutrients , found evidence that the betalains in beetroot juice can reduce inflammation in the body and protect DNA from oxidative damage.
In addition, the phytochemicals in beets help to maintain healthy and more flexible blood vessels. In addition to their antioxidant compounds, beets also contain nitrate, which is converted to nitric oxide in the body. Nitric oxide helps improve blood flow throughout the body and in the brain.
It's thought that eating beets or drinking beet juice may help to preserve brain health and cognitive function as you age. Probably the best-studied health benefit of beets is their ability to reduce blood pressure. Many people drink beetroot juice as a complementary therapy to treat hypertension. In a meta-analysis published in the journal Advances in Nutrition , researchers looked at the benefits of beetroot on blood pressure.
They found that the blood-pressure-friendly benefits of beets come from their nitrates along with their other health-promoting phytochemicals that act independently of the nitrates. For most people, including more beets in the diet is healthy and safe — and side effects like lower blood pressure or antioxidant protection are good for you.
It's rare to have any harmful side effects from beets, but you should be aware that some people have a beet allergy. Like other fruit and vegetable allergies, a beet allergy is usually caused by food pollen allergy syndrome. This is usually a mild reaction to the pollens in fruits and vegetables, which are similar to the pollens that cause hayfever. Symptoms of a beet allergy may include redness, swelling or itching in the mouth, tongue or throat. In most people, symptoms are mild and clear up easily, but some people may have a more severe reaction, which can lead to anaphylaxis.
Another strange and potentially frightening side effect of eating beets is called beeturia. The dark red pigments in beets can turn urine red or pink in about 10 to 14 percent of people, according to Medical News Today.
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